There are serious issues with our health care system and even more question as how to fix it. Accountable care organizations aim to directly address the problems plaguing health care, including cost, quality and satisfaction. They’re also an integral component to health care reform. But are ACOs the way to go?

For years, the U.S. health care system has been called broken. Health care costs continue to spiral upward, outpacing inflation, and the quality of care has been lacking, even among primary care physicians. Given these issues, health care consumers are struggling to get the care they need at an affordable rate.

To counter this broken system, the Obama administration passed the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, and a portion of that bill focuses on integrating accountable care organizations, which are beginning to garner more attention for how they can possibly change the market.

What are ACOs?

Despite the new inclusion of ACOs in health reform, there is still a degree of confusion as to what an ACO exactly is. Lisa McDonnel, senior vice president of network strategy and innovation at UnitedHealthcare in Minnetonka, Minn., explains that ACOs are evolving in response to the worries about growing health care costs as well as the variations in health outcomes, and these models allow both employers and consumers to play a more proactive role in how their health care is purchased and delivered.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.